


Day 6 - "I'm Too Old For This"

by AlphaWolfAl



Series: CorNyx Week 2019 [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cor is vulnerable, Description of a bad injury, I still literally do not care if you think OCs are wrong or bad or whatever, M/M, Nyx is vulnerable, Prompto is the best boy though, Real heavy on the OC-related feelings, Y'all this one is so bad, everyone cries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 08:14:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19786870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaWolfAl/pseuds/AlphaWolfAl
Summary: A year after the disappearance of Prince Noctis, Cor feels his age when he makes a call that turns out to be wrong.





	Day 6 - "I'm Too Old For This"

Never before has Cor Leonis considered retirement as seriously as he is right now.

Of course he doesn't think about retiring until that is literally not an option.

The Prince disappeared over a year ago, his entourage returning to the people with the news. His own sons among them.

His husband had taken the news harder than most, and knowing the sacrifice Nyx had been willing to make to ensure that Noctis had a city to come back to, Cor understood why.

But now something new has happened. New and horrible, even among the surge of daemons and rapidly shortening days, so horrible it forces Cor to admit something he's been avoiding for the last year.

He mutters it to himself as he drops into a chair in his Lestallum office-slash-home.

“I'm too old for this...”

He's alone, he can voice it without worrying about morale or whatever else might be effected by The Immortal admitting he's not so Immortal.

It's been a week since the incident. He's turned it over a million times in his head. He's hunted for ways he could have done it differently. He can't think of anything he could have done. And that makes it so much worse.

He can still see it so vividly in his mind, and in his sleep, and every godsdamned moment of his day.

He's out with his elder son, and Ignis Scientia, they're miles from Lestallum in a truck, hunting for food. The night falls sooner than they could have ever expected. Aleric and Ignis are battling daemons in a matter of seconds, with Cor right behind them. The blind man just now really on his feet again, metaphorically, and the blond just getting his combat legs again, literally.

The young men fight as a unit, compensating for each other's newfound shortcomings, Aleric shouting directions and Ignis moving almost faster than vision can track to follow them, and decimating the first wave of daemons alongside the Marshall.

But then a Nidus spears up from the ground and the daemons it attracts are too numerous and the men all beat a hasty retreat to the truck.

They're almost there when, with a sickening crack, Aleric is felled by the wicked claws of a particularly large Skeleton. Blond hair is matted to his head by blood, so so much blood, his cry of agony is cut short, his blue eyes roll back, he slumps to the cold ground immediately.

Ignis turns at the larger man's shout and calls out, so desperately. There's no answer. Nobody left to answer.

Cor's throat is tight as he yells for Ignis, grabs his arm to stop him from running literally blindly into the fray again.

“No! He's gone Ignis. We have to go. Now!”

The Marshall's tone makes it clear it's an order, but Ignis still gives a defiant stare just a little too far to the left of Cor's face.

The Advisor relents though, and allows himself to be herded into the truck which then takes off with a screech of tires and the roar of the engine.

Cor snaps back to the present. Then thinks about how two days after giving that order his husband had come back from his own assignment. He'd had to tell Nyx that the son he'd raised for 13 years was dead.

Nyx breaks down, he collapses into his husband's arms and just cries.

He takes the burden to tell Libertus when he returns the next day. The big Galahdan grits his teeth and thanks Cor for telling him, but the way he says it makes it clear the man blames Cor.

That's ok, Cor blames himself too.

In the following day's he's comforted his husband a hundred times, and been shocked when he had his own breakdown over it. Nyx is there for him then. Holding him and petting his hair and murmuring in his ear.

“It's not your fault. I don't blame you. He was always too cocky. Guess he got that from me huh?”

The tired, war-worn, laugh his husband lets out at that makes Cor's heart clench.

But through all this they have each other and they are just starting to cope with their grief when Prompto returns and they have to start all over when those violet-blue eyes well up immediately and he throws himself into their arms and cries.

Prompto cries for so long, Cor doesn't know what to do when it passes into forty-five minutes, and hour, an hour and a half. Nyx whispers soft things to the boy, platitudes to soothe the grief as much as possible.

It's all been so much that the Marshall feels punched in the gut when he races out the gates to assist a group of Glaives returning with meteor shards to power the city, and there, fighting side-by-side with Libertus, is Aleric.

His hair is still matted with blood, the wound looks infected, and his eyes don't show any recognition when he sees Cor. But he's there, he's alive.

They fight off the demons and get the truckfull of shards into the city slamming the gates behind them.

Libertus is talking to the blond, trying desperately to spark any recognition in him.

When Aleric doesn't remember him Libertus claps him on the shoulder and says a dejected goodbye before hurrying off, leaving the city to find more shards. But not before shooting Cor a dagger-glare that tells the Marshall they'll have a conversation about this later.

Cor hurries to find his husband, to tell him the news. He's breathless from the run when he finally finds him, checking in with refugee citizens in the housing section of the city.

“He's back! Nyx he's alive!”

He tries to catch his breath to explain but the way his husband drops the box in his hands and bolts past him towards the market section of town says Cor doesn't have to explain.

Tears sting his eyes when he watches his husband try to gain any recognition in their son. He lets himself cry as Nyx returns to his side and collapses against him, wrenching sobs wracking his body.

“Cor he... he doesn't know me...”

“He doesn't know anyone... Libertus tried too...”

Nyx sobs anew, the boy recognized none of his father-figures, and that almost hurts more that thinking he was dead.

He has to tell Ignis next. The Advisor lights up at first, but Cor has the time to warn him that the Blond has no memories.

Ignis tries anyway. He rests his forehead on Aleric's and murmurs to him, things that Cor is respectfully far enough from them to not hear.

Still nothing.

Ignis sighs heavily, and when he moves away he speaks to Cor firmly.

“When Prompto arrives tell him to unlock his phone. He knows the passcode. Perhaps that will jog his memory. He takes almost as many photos as Prompto.”

Cor's heart jumps at that. There's hope.

Their medic cleans his wounds, applies antiseptic, stitches and bandages him. And then cries in Ignis's arms because Aleric is alive, and because he doesn't remember her.

One look at those wounds and Nyx murmurs softly.

“They're going to leave scars...”

It's a problem for Nyx, because he's ashamed of his own scars. But Cor knows the boy. He knows he's worn his scars as a trophy, even those he sustained in Altissia that almost cost him his legs.

That night Aleric sleeps with the other Glaives, all of whom are uncomfortable with his lack of memory. One, a girl with bright silver hair, punches him in the face before rushing away.

That second night most people have gotten used to his memory loss, the majority have stopped trying to get him to remember.

Cor lays down next to his husband and curls into him. It's finally hitting him full-force.

“I left our boy for dead... I left your son... Our son... I should have tried harder.”

Nyx runs his fingers through his lover's hair and gently murmurs.

“You did what you thought was best. If you'd gone back, or let Ignis go back, you could have died.”

Nyx has accepted this situation faster than anyone else. He's hopeful the boy will regain his memories, but copes with his current situation so much better than Cor.

He has never been more thankful to have his husband. He clutches him close and finally lets someone else hear him say it.

“I'm too old for this.”

Nyx freezes, like he's never thought about it. He never had cared about the more than ten year age gap between them. Then he lets out a slow exhale.

“We both thought we'd have to mourn our son. He's only 27. Nobody's young enough for that.”

Cor shivers, presses his face into Nyx's chest, and his tears finally run dry.

“Since when are you the logical one?”

Nyx laughs, sounding more like himself.

“Since you're the one beating himself up like an idiot.”

Cor lets out a little choked laugh.

“I walked right into that.”

“You really did.”

Nyx caresses his hair slowly and kisses the top of his head.

“Prompto will come back soon. We'll see if unlocking that phone can bring out boy back to us.”

Cor nods and exhaustion overtakes him before he can reply.

It's almost a week before his younger son returns. The boy lights up and throws himself into Cor's arms.

“Hey pops. Anything new?”

Cor takes a slow breath. 

“Aleric he's... Well he's back.”

Prompto lights up and looks around wildly.

“Where? Is he ok?”

“He's out hunting. Got a nasty head wound that's barely fought off an infection.” Cor's voice is sad. “But he can't remember anyone. Not me, not Ignis, not Nyx or Libertus.”

“He wouldn't forget dad!”

“He forgot everyone. Rattled his brain pretty hard. Ignis says you know the passcode to his phone?”

Prompto lights up brightly again, eager to help.

“Yea! That'll help! He takes so many pictures!”

It's another day before Aleric returns to Lestallum, heralded by a gate guard shouting that the hunting party has returned. Prompto is waiting eagerly next to Cor to greet him as the larger man hauls in a garula carcass with the three other Glaives he went out with.

“Al!” Prompto runs over to him and practically bowls him over.

The larger blond is stock-still.

“Let me guess, I know you too?”

Prompto pouts and glances away.

“Yea... Dad and Pops said you forgot...” He brightens again. “But I know how to open your phone! That should help, right?”

Aleric laughs at the question.

“Sure as hell couldn't hurt, kid.”

Prompto holds out his hand, fingers flexing at the bigger man.

“Give it to me. I'll help.”

Aleric hands over the phone and gets himself unhooked from the heavy harness each of the largest of the Glaives use to drag hunting hauls in with like a team of pulling horses.

Prompto is bouncing on his toes waiting for the Glaive. As soon as he can he gets Aleric's attention and puts in the code on his phone so the older man can see it to unlock his phone on his own in the future.

There's a laugh from the bigger blond, hand covering his mouth a bit, a mumble that Cor can't hear, then Prompto laughs and nods.

“You set it when you were like 17.”

“That explains a lot.”

Nyx has made his way to Cor's side, having only just heard that the hunting party was back. He's eagerly leaning forward, clutching at the Marshall's arm uncertainly.

He puts a hand on his husband's hand and squeezes gently.

Nyx relaxes and exhales slowly.

Prompto hands back the phone and follows the Glaive like a lost puppy when Aleric moves to drop down on a box in an alley and look through the phone.

There's a few moments where the man flings his finger over the screen in a motion indicative of scrolling very quickly to the bottom of something.

Then he taps and begins to very slowly swipe through something.

Prompto remains standing nearby, eagerly watching the man as if he expects instantaneous results.

Nyx looks just as hopeful.

Cor can't bring himself to have that kind of hope.

Aleric pauses longer on one thing, his eyebrows knitting together in thought. Those sharp blue eyes flick upwards, not to Cor, but to Nyx.

He stares like he's trying to puzzle something out. Looks to his phone, back to Nyx, at his phone again. Then says something to Prompto, who jumps, then grins and replies, looking up at Nyx.

Aleric looks like something is more settled in his mind.

Cor almost doesn't want to watch this, doesn't want to know if the Glaive can remember this way right now. But Nyx is clinging to his arm and he cannot leave his husband to hope alone.

The day must move on though, night is falling and Cor has guard duty. He leaves Nyx with Prompto and Aleric, promises to find him when he finishes his shift, and heads up onto the walls to keep watch.

It's late, or possibly early, when Cor gets off the wall finally, he's been pulling extra night hours to compensate for losses. He goes right to his room, anticipating that his husband will already be there.

He's right, Nyx is sitting on their bed and swaying a bit, humming to himself. He jumps a bit when Cor opens the door and grins at him.

“He knows me, even remembered Libertus.”

Cor gives his lover a soft smile.

“What did it?”

“There's pictures on that phone from when we first came to Insomnia, when he first got that phone. Me, him, and Lib shared a place back then.”

The Marshall chuckled softly.

“I'm glad. You have your boy back.”

Nyx frowns a little.

“He's your boy too. You know that right? Even if he's terrible at showing it.”

Cor sat down and leaned his forehead on Nyx's.

“He's our son, but you were the first person to believe in him. I'm too old for this kind of hope.”

“He'll remember you. And Prom. And the others. It'll just take time.”

They sleep that night and in the morning Nyx goes out with Aleric and a hunting party.

It's months, so many months that the scars on Aleric's face have healed over, before the blond knocks calmly on Cor's door.

“Marshall?”

Cor always cringes a little when the boy calls him that. And he goes for his sword, the Glaive usually only comes by with bad news.

“Is something wrong?”

The young man holds up his hands, shaking his head.

“I just... I remember you... Dad.”

Cor collapses onto his desk chair and buries his face in his hands, breaking down in tears. It's the first time the Glaive has called him that, there have been a few near-misses but this is the first time. Aleric continues.

“I remember you, and I'm sorry I was too fucking stubborn to say it before. You're my dad, much as Nyx.”

Cor Leonis, Cor The Immortal, Marshall of the Crownsguard, is rendered incapable of response beyond soft sobs by a three letter word.

When he finally gets himself under control he takes a shaky breath and looks up at the boy, smiling warmly at him.

“Gods I am too old for this.”


End file.
